Violence against women has been institutionalised and accepted as normal by large sections of society, said speakers at a discussion organised by the group ‘Culture Beat’ at the Press Club on Friday.

Violence against women has been institutionalised and accepted as normal by large sections of society, said speakers at a discussion organised by the group ‘Culture Beat’ at the Press Club on Friday.

While discussing the violence against women, writers present at the meet read notes from their works and referred to various books to bring out the attitude that society has towards women and violence against them.

“The idea behind the event was to provide a platform to exchange views, to understand what people think of rape, safety and violence against women,” said writer Anju Makhija, co-ordinator, Culture Beat.

Rati Wadia, former principal of Queen Mary High School said, “It is extremely important that young children given sex education.”

Although rape remained the central topic of discussion, domestic violence and genital mutilation were also touched upon. Panellists also said that women often do not report cases of violence out of fear of losing respect.

“Violence against women have been institutionalised and accepted in normalcy by society at large,” said Kalpana Swaminathan, a writer and one of the speakers at the event. She added, “In cases such as rape, we can only empathise with the victims, but can never feel their misery.”

A speaker who had been subjected to violence said that the impact was lifelong. She said that she has been meditating to overcome her pain of being abused as a child. “I am still trying to overcome what I went through as a child,” she said.